Dress-stay



(No Model.)

N. P. T. HUNT.

DRESS STAY.

No. 556,928. Patented Mar. 24, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

NATHANIIL FREDERICK THAYER HUNT, OF BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS.

DRESS-STAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,928, dated March24, 1896. Application ned December is, 1895. senin. 572,526. on man Toall whom t may concern.-

Be it known, that l, NATHANIEL FREDERICK THAYER HUNT, of Braintree, inthe county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented anImproved Garment-Stay, of which the following is a specification,reference being ha-d to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l isan elevation of one of my im proved stays. Fig. 2 is a section on line 22, enlarged for clearness. Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 3, alsoenlarged; and Figs. l and 5 are elevations of my spring-sockets, alsoenlarged. Fig. G is like Fig. 3, showing two steels.

Garmentstays consisting of thicknesses of soft and flexible sheetmaterial united by parallel seams to form pockets, with 4steels fittingloosely in the pockets and metallic sockets to prevent the ends of thesteels from abrading the pockets, are known, and my in yention is animproved article of that class, its main novelty being that the socketsare formed of a strip of thin sheet material rounded at the corners andbent across its middle, as clearly shown in the drawings,.

thereby giving the ends of the socket a tendency to separate, so thatwhen inserted in the pocket and over the ends of the steels the endswill press outward against the inner front and rear walls of the pocket,and the socket will be thus held in proper relation with the pocket andthe steel.

In the drawings, AA are strips of soft flexible sheet material united bythe seams a to form pockets for the steel B.

D are spring-sockets, cach form ed by bending a blank of sheet metal orCelluloid or like stiff sheet material across its middle, as will beclear from Figs. et and 5. Then these sockets D are inserted in thepocket formed by the strips A A and the parallel seams a and over theends of the steel B, the ends d d will separate as far as the strips AA' will allow, and each end d d" will indent the strips A A, and therebythe socket will be held in proper relation with the other parts of thesta-y. Those portions of the strips A A which project beyond the steel Band the sockets D are sewed to the garment in which the stay is to beused, as in other garment-stays of this class.

In the best quality of my stays I use two steels, as shown in Fig. 6,and by the use of the sprin g-sockets D, Iam enabled to dispense withthe connecting rivet or eyelet heretofore used whenever two steels wereused in one pocket. In this case the sockets D cover the ends of bothsteels B and B', with sumcient space between the ends of the steels andthe bend cl2 of the socket to allow the proper flexing of the staywithout undue strain on either steel, or, what amounts to the samething, without compelling either steel to buckle away from the otherwhen the stay is bent. This is also one feature of myinvention, and is apractical improvement, for while it is well known that a far betterquality of elasticity can be obtained by two thin steels than by onethicker steel, yet it has been heretofore deemed Vimpossible to use twosteels in one pocket without riveting them together near their middleportions; but I have found that when the ends of both are confined insockets and a space is left for one end of each steel to work by theother (depending upon which way my double-steel stay is bent,) there isno need of riveting the steels together or securing them otherwise thanby end sockets.

In most garment-stays the bending in practice is wholly from one end,and in suc-h stays with a single steel one socket is sufficient at theend which is moved in bending; but with my double-steel stays a socketis essential at each end of the two steels, as otherwise one of thesteels will gradually work out of place with relation to the other andto the pocket, and the rivet heretofore used in all doublesteel stayshas been as much to prevent that working out of place as to prevent onesteel buckling away from the other.

I do not claim, broadly, reinforcing the pocket of a garment-stay, nordo I claim broadly a garment-stay with two steels j, but

lVhat I do claim isl. A garment-stay comprising a pocket formed ofstrips of soft, flexible material united by parallel seams to form thepocket; a steel litting loosely in that pocket and a socket formed bybending a strip of stiff sheet material with rounded corners andinserting it within the pocket over the end of the steel, the socketbeing retained in position at the end of the pocket solely byitsresiliency, substantially as described.

IOO

2. A garment-stay comprising a pocket formed of strips of soft, flexiblesheet material united by parallel seams to form Jshe pocket; two steelseach slightly less in Width than the pocket` Within the pocket, eachsteel being unconnected with the other and fitting loosely within thepocket, and two sockets formed by bending strips of stiff sheet materialwith rounded corners and inserting' them Within the pocket one at eachend or' lo the pocket over the ends of the steels, substantially asdescribed.

NATHANIEL FREDERICK 'lllAl'llR HUNT. Vtnesses J. E. MAYNADIER, JOHN R.SNOW.

